Topped off my buddy's 4-runner, 1 GALLON low! ***?

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What is wrong with people? This guy owns a NICE '71 'cuda Grand Coupe, but is somehow... "impared" when it comes to general maintenance. I am speechless, no excuse. I nagged him to open the TOYOTA hood because he is a good friend and I don't want him to blow an engine. When I found the dipstick dry, I popped to the AutoZone right across the street and returned with a gallon of Rotella, I did not expect the engine to take the whole thing...yep, it did.
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those kinds of people keep the economy going, leave them be.

if they want to blow up their engine, it's their perogative.
 
ROFL - I agree, some people just don't care about our cares the way we all do. Most of the time you can't change a person like that.
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I saw the same thing once with this guy at work a long time ago. He was complaining his car sounded funny so several of us went out to have a look. No oil even showing on the dip stick. I think it held about three quarts to fill it up.

Yeah I don't get those kinds of people either.
 
At the OTHER extreme,

A young lady at work said she checked her oil and it was to the ADD mark on the dip stick. Soooo she goes and checks her owners manuel and it says it holds five quarts.

She went and bought five quarts and put ALL five quarts in the engine cuz that's what the owners manuel says it holds!

Smoke everywhere after she fired it up. Ended up at the dealer to repair.

Some people just have no idea
 
I was working at an oil change place and an lady came in with a Lumina that was rattling horribly. She didn't come in because of the rattle, just for a normal oil change. We checked the oil level and there was no oil on the dipstick. Since this place was not a repair shop and we didn't want any liability on it, we told her to buy some oil and top it off, then drive immediately to the dealer. I even offed help topping it off if she needed it. She said she'd have here husband look at it, and drove off without topping it off. I wonder how far she made it.
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-T
 
Whats so difficult about pulling out the oil dipstick and checking the oil once a month???
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I had a friend buy a brand new TSX and 17,000 miles later.....she still had the original factory fill oil in her car!! I understand 99% of women don't know about cars....but there in no excuse for a guy not to check the oil level.
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I have some respect for her. At least she tried.

quote:

Originally posted by Hankrr:
At the OTHER extreme,

A young lady at work said she checked her oil and it was to the ADD mark on the dip stick. Soooo she goes and checks her owners manuel and it says it holds five quarts.

She went and bought five quarts and put ALL five quarts in the engine cuz that's what the owners manuel says it holds!

Smoke everywhere after she fired it up. Ended up at the dealer to repair.

Some people just have no idea


 
I don't know if it's sometimes as much a problem for the original owner. I have friend who only keeps a car about 4 years (70-80k miles). He doesn't change oil. Pity the person who buys that "certified used car."

Personally, I've always thought cleanliness inward was more important than outward. My '91 Honda is pretty unattractive. Paint is a mess. But after 430k, the motor is still strong. :)

[ June 09, 2004, 01:23 PM: Message edited by: mountainhouse ]
 
I think the best question for a person selling a used car is "how much oil does it burn". If they answer "I dunno". That means they ran it until OC without topping. I wonder if OC shops check levels before changing and make recommendations. "Hey sir, that b*tch was as dry as a hooker after a night in jail". Oil service is their business, not engine swaps, they should offer some tips to their beleagered customers. I have sometimes run a coupla quarts in an engine that was cronicly low BEFORE draining, fwiw.
 
that's scary! most 4 runner engines only hold about 1 gallon of oil.
my friend's sister decided to "top off" the oil in her car after changing it herself. she filled it up to "full" and it ran badly so she called my friend he check it out and found that "full" was that she couldn't fill the oil filler any more, the engine was filled completely with oil, "all the way to the top"
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quote:

but is somehow... "impared" when it comes to general maintenance.

Ah, another charter member of the evil, evil car owners club. I know a guy that not only habitually neglect to maintain proper oil level, but also all other fluid levels and tire pressure as well. I'm surprised that he even bother reading the fuel guage.
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quote:

Originally posted by therion:
ROFL - I agree, some people just don't care about our cares the way we all do. Most of the time you can't change a person like that.
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Painful and expensive experience usually teach these folks what they need to know -- eventually. I view them sort of as being in the same class as the heathens who loudly chew with their mouths open or don't wipe their a@@es after they take a dump -- you wonder how their parents could ever have let them get like this. The bottom line (ooops, bad choice of words after that last sentence...) is that there are plenty of these people out there. You probably can't change them, just make sure you don't buy a car from one of them.
 
What is really frightening is how long did he have to drive that 4Runner to burn off 4 quarts?

Can a car really run that low on oil and for how long??? not too long.
 
Back in 75 a Vietnamese immigrant was in the same auto school that I attended. I had graduated a year earlier and some of the current students gas jocked in the evenings.

In the Chassis class you learned basic maintenance. One day, as described by the classmate/gas jock, the Vietnamese walked up to the shop teacher and asked, "Mista Mirra, Mista Mirra (Miller)!! What does O-I-L mean? Red light on dash. Been on two day.

They pushed the Toyota into the bay and pulled the drain plug. It apparently yielded two or three "plopps". They filled it up ..changed the filter ..and away he drove...happy as could be.

Ignorance is truly bliss
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Friends don't let friends go dry.

As for the Vietnamese student story....it must have been the first day of class or something. I can't imagine an auto student of any nationality not knowing the word OIL....

I have, however, heard MANY stories of folks just driving with ZERO thoughts of oil and thinking oil was a consumable in the way gasoline is. IOW, tank gets low, add some. Except these folks didn't even know what a dipstick is all about. Expecting a gage to keep them informed (which gage, though). Yes, most are warned with a light. Some even ignore the light, thinking again that oil is a consumable and if the car "runs out", that's why they have a cell phone......I suppose so
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My wife can change the oil. I only have daughters. They are NOT "ignorant females". They have and are gaining knowledge on the workings of IC engines. I mean, really, how tough are the basics for girls that can do calculus, beat my *** at chess, whip me on video games, snake me out of every $1 in my wallet, write award winning essays, build stuff, win the cover design contest for school annual, and generally make most men and boys look foolish (self 100% included)?
 
quote:

Originally posted by Hankrr:
At the OTHER extreme,

A young lady at work said she checked her oil and it was to the ADD mark on the dip stick. Soooo she goes and checks her owners manuel and it says it holds five quarts.

She went and bought five quarts and put ALL five quarts in the engine cuz that's what the owners manuel says it holds!

Smoke everywhere after she fired it up. Ended up at the dealer to repair.

Some people just have no idea


You know, I really feel bad for this lady. She must have REALLY though she was helping her car and trying to be different than so many other women who are ignorant about their vehicles. I'll bet she felt terrible when her mistake was explained to her.

It is kinda funny, though, in a devilish sort of way.
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I wonder how many of these people passed drivers' ed in school?

Is this a general distrust of authorities and vendors?
 
On the other hand, I was at a full service gas station/two bay shop, when a little old lady pulled up in her BMW. Probably 85 years old, she hobbled out and one of the mechanics greeted her. He checked her oil and told her it was fine. She wathced him pull the dipstick and she strained to see the reading. I gathered this was a regular thing as she didn't get any gas or need anything else.

I heard her say that it was a good car as she had gotten over 230,000 miles on it with out any problems. Even if you don't know how or physically can't check your oil, there are ways to ensure that your car isn't dry. That little lady knew.

Of course, a relative of mine ran her car dry when she was around 20 and the engine blew. A very smart girl, she just had no knowledge of cars. She learned.
 
It's even better when it's the same customer.

My mechanic told me about a customer he had with a Dodge Caravan. It had an engine oil leak and the customer apparently didn't want to pay to fix it. So it'd come in every couple of months with the complaint that it's making funny noises. He said at one point it was making squeaking noises (from the internal bearings maybe???).

Add 2-3 quarts of oil and send the customer on their way after, of course, explaining the need for the engine to have oil added to it.

This repeated several times.

Eventually that Caravan came back in and the engine was toast. As you might have expected, there was no oil in it. It went to the junkyard.

What a waste.

[ June 10, 2004, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: brianl703 ]
 
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